Tom Aspinall believes it’s ‘50/50’ between him and Francis Ngannou: ‘Francis is a scary man’

[Wild]

Tom Aspinall has a lot of respect for Francis Ngannou.

This Saturday, Ngannou makes his long-awaited return to MMA when he faces Renan Ferreira in the main event of PFL: Battle of the Giants. It will be Ngannou’s first MMA fight since 2022 when he successfully defended the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in his final fight with the promotion. Since then, Aspinall has made quite the impression on the UFC’s heavyweight division, winning the interim heavyweight belt and then defending his interim title back in July.

Currently, Aspinall hopes to finally have a title unification bout with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones after Jones defends his belt against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, but with Ngannou’s return to the sport, fans are now also interested in how a hypothetical fight between he and Aspinall might look. And addressing that question on his YouTube channel recently, Aspinall believes it’s close.

“That’s a good fight! That’s a great fight,” Aspinall said. “I’ve always been a big fan of Francis. I love his story, love what he’s all about. I think it’s a 50/50 fight, to be honest. Francis is a scary man. But I think technically I would take the edge. But I think that’s a great fight.”

Tom Aspinall believes it’s ‘50/50’ between him and Francis Ngannou: ‘Francis is a scary man’ - MMA Fighting

 

[Rambo John J]

Tom is correct

Frank is a tank and can put anybody out really quickly

Would probably still be running the UFC HW division even with Tom around

 

[Robbie Hart]

But he’s not scared of jones.

 

[RichardGeresMissingGerbil]

It really was a big hit to the division losing Francis. The Francis/Tom fight could have been a huge event, but with Jones and Stipe likely retiring, there aren’t any really big matchups in the division for Tom.

 

[Cornhole Champ]

I would be interested in this fight